The part that confuses me is just how large these are? Depending on the website or blog I visit, I get a different answer. One website gave an example using the entire book format of Charles Dicken’s A Christmas Carol. Another site gives examples where scene sequel is used on a near paragraph level, and where the individual sentences are bulked out by the Motivation-Reaction Units (MRUs).

In my opinion, the MRUs don’t work as well if the larger scale scene sequels are defining the “whole story”. Am I right?

Macro levelScene/sequel: A method of ensuring that a whole scene is plotted. Scene - Goal, Conflict, Disaster. Followed by Sequel - Reaction, Dilemma, Decision. Which leads into the following scene. (One scene to one sequel - yes. Always back to back - yes, they flow into each other.)

Think of scene/sequel as a single unit for plotting a complete scene (whether that scene is two paragraphs or a chapter. Not an entire book.). Each scene must have all elements. Each sequel must have all elements. If they don't, the unit is not complete. If they can't have all elements, the scene probably doesn't work and should be changed or deleted.

Micro levelMotivation Reaction Unit: A method of writing by which external stimuli (Motivation) create internal and subjective responses (Reaction) in a character. (Example: The east drapes crumbled away and light blazed through the window (Motivation). Bob cowered behind the bed in horror (Reaction).) Reactions without motivations read like back to school what-I-did-last-summer essays.

[Instead of motivation/reaction, one might think stimulus/response.]

MRUs are sub-units of scene/sequels. Scene/sequels are sub-units of stories.

No to the first question, and Yes to the second. It is my understanding that each MRU encapsulates an external stimulus and the POV's reaction to it. Even small things within the environment will stimulate a realistic character and reveal more personality to the reader. These things need not be tied to the scene/sequel at hand (Meaning that they don't always have to move the plot.).

The MRU is a means of plotting, writing and editing complete motivation/reaction cycles from a character's POV. In structure, every reaction requires a motivation and every motivation requires a reaction. This gets down to minutiae in plotting and can make for a very long outline, but the method ensures that there is nothing superfluous written. In editing, the method ensures that nothing has been left out.

There must be at least one MRU for each phase of scene/sequel, because the plot of the story requires motivations and reactions. So there would be at least six MRUs per scene/sequel. Again, it is my understanding that there may be more MRUs per scene/sequel, but never fewer.

(For those reading the forum who might question the method, please try it instead. If critiques of your work include "Why did she do that?" or "This didn't make sense," it's almost guaranteed that something is amiss with motivation/reaction cycles.)

I love Dwight Swain's story structure and learned so much reading his book, but I did feel it was somewhat out of date. However a student of his incorporated his methods in her book "The Fantasy Fiction Formula." Let's see what was her name. . . I shall look it up. Deborah Chester. She cuts to the chase in several spots and her book is very readable. I highly recommend it.

And hi all! I haven't been on this forum for ages. Time to get back in here!

I just finished Deborah Chester's "Fantasy Fiction Formula." It's really quite good if not quite revelatory. I feel as though she does a job of clearly articulating ideas I've heard in general (e.g. scene/sequel) as well as putting in more concrete terms things I've been doing instinctively.

It really helped me organize how to think about attacking prose on a very high level.

For example:

Looking at an outline I've been working on I realized that Chapters 1 and 2 are really one scene and should be consolidated. Chapter 3 was already a sequel, I just didn't know it yet. But once I realized that, I could organize it into a more compelling reaction to the events of Chapters 1-2.